


Strategy Meeting

by SenpaiWontNotice



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Metaverse (Persona 5)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23910853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SenpaiWontNotice/pseuds/SenpaiWontNotice
Summary: Queen questions Joker's latest battle tactics. She should probably be more concerned about their stealth.Set around Shido's Palace, no Royal spoilers.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 3
Kudos: 111





	Strategy Meeting

“The enemy’s tough, but you’ve got this!” Oracle’s voice called out from above as shadows rose out of the inky black pool that had formed moments prior. Having just wiped out a previous wave of enemies, the Phantom Thieves were annoyed, if not surprised, to find another wave approaching. Mementos had been chock full of ambushes today, but as long as the fights made Joker strong enough to bring down Shido, he didn’t care.

The shadows took shape into more recognizable forms: two Rangdas and a Kushinade-Hime. Joker was hoping for something a bit more challenging, but he could certainly make do.

“They’re weak to Bless attacks!” Queen shouted as she resumed her fighting stance. “Think you can handle them, Joker?”

“With pleasure,” the Phantom Thieves leader replied, tearing off his mask as the visage of a skeleton in yellow and green robes appeared behind him.

“Daisoujou!” Joker said, his gray eyes shifting to an amber yellow. “Samsara!”

At once, glowing walls of shimmering light surrounded Joker’s prey and began spinning, as glowing runes etched themselves across the ground beneath them. As the walls’ pace accelerated, they shone brighter and brighter, until their glow was so overwhelming that the tunnel itself was set alight. The walls erupted in a burst of blinding light, and as the explosion dimmed, only a single shadow was left standing.

“One shadow left! Pass the baton, Joker!” Queen called to him.

“I’ve got this,” Joker replied, a manic, almost obsessive tone replacing his normally calm voice. “Come, Titania!”

Joker’s undead persona vanished into the ether, replaced by a composed fairy with intricate green robes and flowing golden hair. The fairy raised a single hand, and an orb of nuclear energy encircled the Kushinade-Hime. In an instant, the orb vanished, leaving not even the faintest trace of its victim.

“Daaaamn, Joker!” Skull cheered as the combatants realized the fight had ended. “I almost feel bad for the shadows, after a fight like that.”

“As expected of our leader. An effortless and elegant victory,” Mona added.

“Nothing to it,” Joker replied, moving to adjust his gloves. As he did, a sudden numbness shot up his right arm, momentarily stifling his motion. He put his hands behind his back and shook his arm awake before the rest of the team noticed. Perhaps he had been a bit too overzealous with his spellcasting a moment earlier.

Fortunately, the team was too preoccupied with the light show he had put on to notice. As he waited for Mona to resume his vehicular form, however, he couldn’t help but notice that Queen didn’t share the rest of the team’s enthusiasm.

\---

A few minutes later, the Phantom Thieves reached the path down to a lower level, and were relieved to find a rest stop.

“Finally, some chairs without cat hair on them!” Skull shouted as he raced towards the typical seating area in the middle of the floor.

“If you’ve got a problem with my interior, Skull, you’re more than welcome to walk!” Mona whined.

“No one likes a car full of hairballs, cat!” Ryuji jeered.

“I think your interior is very cute, Mona-chan,” Haru assured their semi-feline companion, scooping him up and bringing him along to the rest area. “Although there _are_ a few hairballs…”

After an afternoon focused on reaching the depths of Mementos — or as far down as the Metaverse would allow them to go — the Thieves had more than earned a brief reprieve.

One thief, however, was still a little on edge.

“Do you have a minute, Joker?” Queen asked the Thieves’ leader as the others took their seats inside of the rest area. Her tone was friendly enough, but her crossed arms and the frustrated look in her eyes told Joker not to get too comfortable.

“Something on your mind?” Joker asked coyly.

Queen placed her hands on her hips and spoke in a hushed yet harsh whisper. “What is up with you!? How much energy do you think you burned on that last fight alone? Wasn’t it your idea to reach the bottom of Mementos today?”

Joker waved his left hand dismissively. “I’ve got plenty of energy left. It’s sweet of you to worry, but I’m fine.”

“Is that so? Your arm looked a little stiff a moment ago,” Queen said accusingly.

“I just needed to stretch it,” he lied reflexively. It was a stupid lie, and he knew better than to think she would buy it, so he quickly added. “Seriously, it’s fine. I made sure to stock up on supplies last night, I’ll take a quick snack break and be right back at it! I can handle plenty more than this.”

“Just because you _can_ handle something doesn’t mean you _need_ to,” Queen replied, obviously not willing to leave the conversation there. “You’ve been acting like a loose cannon since we got here. And you were the same way in Shido’s Palace yesterday, too. Since you guys appointed me as the tactician, it’s my job to say: not very tactical.”

“Alright, coach, I’ll make sure to pass more often,” Joker jested, hoping that concession would be enough to stop the brewing argument. He could feel the gazes of the thieves lounging in the rest stop, and he worried that the group’s progress would slow down if it looked like he and Queen were fighting.

The look in Queen’s eyes was enough to tell Joker that he wasn’t finding an easy out. “Ren,” she uttered impatiently.

That was deliberate. Queen had been surprisingly consistent with remembering codenames since her first infiltration. If she was calling him out by his civilian identity now, then it was to get a point across.

Joker sighed and slackened his shoulders in defeat, not offering a response but looking at her attentively.

Queen’s stern gaze softened slightly. She lifted her mask from her face and then grasped his hand with hers, positioning herself so that any eavesdroppers from the rest area wouldn’t be able to see the gesture.

“You’re going to burn yourself out,” she said softly. “It hasn’t even been a week since you had to deal with, well … that interrogation. The injuries they gave you … they looked _really_ bad. If it were up to me, you’d still be at home resting, but …”

Joker cast his gaze aside, embarrassed to be fussed over and ashamed for worrying his partner so much. “They don’t affect me here. And we don’t have time to take it slow right now. We have to make Shido pay-”

“I know, and we will,” Queen replied. “But there’s a difference between being efficient and being reckless. The Phantom Thieves need you to lead them, and if anything ever happened to you, I … just …”

“Makoto?” Ren asked, concern making him momentarily forget the codename policy.

Makoto quickly rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and regained her composure. “Just dial it back a little, and rely on your teammates, OK? If only for my own peace of mind.”

Ren lifted a hand to Makoto’s cheek and brushed it gently. “OK, I will. Sorry for worrying you.”

Then, remembering that they were somewhere in the depths of Mementos and, more importantly, only standing a few feet away from their friends, Joker quickly retracted his hands and made a show of giving Queen an _oh-so-platonic_ pat on the shoulder. Turning on his heels, he returned to the rest area and grabbed a seat among his teammates, hoping to return the mood to normal.

“...Is everything alright?” Fox asked after a moment of silence, catching harsh glares from Oracle, Skull, and Panther for addressing the elephant in the room. So they had been looking, then.

“ ‘Course,” Joker replied in as casual of a tone as he could muster. “Just a strategy meeting.”

\---

Heeding Queen’s request, Joker avoided overextending himself for the rest of their expedition. As fate would have it, the tactician’s advice was as wise as ever: the latest area of Mementos ended up being its largest one yet, even though it culminated in yet another barrier halting their progress. With their Mementos training brought to an end, the team set their sights on Leblanc, to sort out their next steps at Shido’s Palace and recharge after a pretty tiring day in Mementos.

On the train headed to Yongen-Jaya, the exhaustion of a week full of revelations — as well as two back-to-back days of battle in the Metaverse — caught up to Ren, and he found himself fighting a losing battle against sleep.

“Think I might … take a quick nap…” he muttered to his girlfriend, seated next to him.

“If anyone’s earned a nap, it’s you,” Makoto replied lazily, trying and failing to focus her attention towards one of her study guides.

Ren grinned as he let his eyes shut. “Have I told you how amazing you are lately?”

Makoto giggled. “Am I? Maybe I’ve earned a nap too …”

\---

From the opposite side of the train, Ann caught a glimpse of her friends and started laughing to herself.

“Are they even trying to hide it anymore?” she said, nudging the boy standing in front of her. Ryuji, who was halfway asleep despite standing on a crowded train, jolted awake at the contact.

“Whazzat?” he muttered.

“Mr. and Mrs. Joker over there!” Ann whispered, gesturing past the crowd and over to where Makoto and Ren had sat down. “Aren’t they just the cutest?”

In his fatigued state of mind, it took Ryuji a moment to turn around, and another to fully process what he was seeing: his best friend and team leader seated next to the team’s second-in-command, both sound asleep and resting their heads on each other.

And as Ann watched the gears slowly turn in Ryuji’s head, watched his eyes widen and his jaw slacken, she realized she had made a fatal mistake. Ryuji had not, somehow, noticed what had been going on with Ren and Makoto the past few months. He had never picked up on the exchanged glances between the two, or all the side-conversations they had after team meetings, or the way Joker would check Queen out when he thought no one was paying attention to him, or even how embarrassed Makoto had been when Sojiro asked if they were dating. What had been obvious to Ann was unfathomable knowledge to poor, clueless Ryuji, and now he was about to process that knowledge in the only way he knew how.

“Ryuji, wait- !” she called out to him, but it was too late. Ryuji had ascended to his own, very-Ryuji-like state of enlightenment, one with no concept of time or place, or discretion, or inside voices.

And in a jubilant cry that was certain to wake any nearby couples and shatter any notion they had about secret relationships, Ryuji shouted.

“ _HOLY SHIT!_ ”


End file.
